Warning: Mentions Of Death
"Director Gian. You were ordered to use A-980 to kill The Grey Eye crew and recover the bodies." The distorted voice over the phone began with. "Not cause our world to fall into a death spiral."
"I'm sorry, Councilmember. The death of The Grey Eye crew had...unintended consequences." Director Gian responded.
"We are using almost every reality anchor we have to keep the destruction of our world at bay! You must have a plan." The Councilmember sighed. "I believed in you, Gian. But if you don't have any sense of what to do, we're all dead."
"I don't know what to do. We've never seen anything like this before." Director Gian responded. He looked around his office, searching for clues. His eye caught on a poster in front of him, a stylized image of a spaceship flying out of orbit. It was sunbleached but otherwise kept in good condition.
"What if we left." He whispered to himself.
"Could you speak up?" The Councilmember asked.
"What if we left?" Gian said louder. "What if we took all our tech, all our people, and just up and left?" He looked back at the display where a shadowy figure spoke to him. "Could we make something that survives the void?"
The Councilmember was silent for several beats. "I'll put it to a vote." They sounded tired.
A week later, a massive black rectangle was being constructed in an empty field. An electric fence stretched around the rectangle. The gates were blocked by armed guards, checking verification on the scientists, engineers, and other personnel entering the area.
From afar, three coworkers ate lunch together.
"They couldn't think of a better name than ARK?" Asked a scientist dressed in a leather jacket and blue jeans. She was eating a sandwich.
"You ever heard the story of Noah, Rio?" Another one stood nearby a coffee machine, waiting for the last drops to fill his cup. He wore a long trench coat. His shirt was sky blue and his pants were gray.
"Yes, I've heard the story of Noah. But surely there are more stories about great floods." Rio countered.
Miylix shrugged. "I'm not an anthropologist, and definitely not a Curator. Ask her." He pointed to the last coworker.
She slurped up several noodles and looked up."You want to know about floods?" She wore a brown shirt and blue jeans. A vial of blood hung from one of her belt loops. Her hands flicked about, the many tentacles that made her hands streaking in the air, leaving fleeting afterimages.
"Yeah, actually. Hey Omar, do you know any stories? Surely you had some in that Library." Rio asked.
She stared. "A syzygy?"
"Sure." Rio looked confused.
"Hmm. Let me see." She stared for several minutes. Then, she blinked and returned. "I have one, but it is not quite as fortunate as your Noah story."
She held open her hands. The afterimages receded into her actual hands. Amber began to crust over her the tips of her fingers, then reached over her palms.
"There were three siblings, exiled from their own people."
The amber crusted into three shapes, one with horns, one with golden eyes, and one with a long, flowing cape. It seemed to flow in the breeze despite the fact it was made of amber. Rio and Miylix leaned in to watch the story.
"They had used an ancient ritual that was banned to see the far side of their moon."
The amber shrunk, giving the impression of a camera panning away from the siblings. It ended with the image of amber rising up like a wave.
"And they saw a wave that loomed over their civilization. It was rushing over the moon, destroying all in the path."
The amber panned over to the sisters, who raised their hands and heads upwards, at the sunlight.
"The sisters sought answers, so they went to their elder. They told them that it was caused by the seven other moons. They had moved in such a way that the sisters' moon was soon to be flooded. The three sisters spread the news to their people, but they did not listen."
The image shifted to the three sisters in front of three different crowds.
"They branded them traitors." A single line was drawn onto each sister's wrist. "And they were banished. The sisters knew that they could not help their people, but they did not know what to do."
The amber sisters walked under an arch.
"They found a temple."
The three sisters walked up to a lectern with a book laying on top, open.
"It was a spell to another realm. An Amber Library."
The three sisters sat down and read the book. Amber swirled around the three figures in a spiral. When it receded, the three sisters were in a library, with bookshelves surrounding them.
"And they were teleported to The Amber Collection."
The amber dissipated away, leaving Rio and Miylix staring at the Curator's hand.
"We do not know who these three sisters were, but they contributed much to The Library. Some theorize that maybe they were those Sisters you killed." Omar looked up at the captivated scientists.
"Weeeelll, that wasn't exactly us, per se..." Rio shrugged sheepishly. Omar stared at her.
"I meant The Parcion."
"Oh."
"But that does not matter now, so long as you realize your mistakes." Omar looked over the ARK before looking back at her coworkers. "How do you know this will withstand the destruction of worlds?
"It won't. But it should last long enough for a decade, at least. That should buy us enough time to decide what to do."
"We're trying to make as much space as possible, but there isn't enough room for 200 million people." Rio frowned. "I wish we could make more."
"Can you not?" Omar asked.
"No, all our resources are being poured into this project. We can't spare it. Not to mention, we're bleeding staff. All sorts of people are leaving, to be with their families and friends when the end comes."
"We have left high-power reality anchors with the largest cities in the world though," Rio added. "I just hope that's enough."
"It will be. It has to be." Omar replied.
